Laboratory Experiments on Ion Heating Under Conditions Similar to the Auroral Magnetosphere

在过去的几年里，大量的研究工作已经在很大程度上澄清了对磁层等离子体物理的理解。这些进展将通过三种研究方法的共同努力来实现：现场观测、理论/计算努力和相关等离子体物理的实验室模拟。加州大学欧文分校（University of California at Irvine）的工作以实验室模拟为中心；欧文的努力集中在他们研究等离子体及其离子分布函数的能力上，具有优异的时间和空间分辨率，从而可以仔细研究在实验者控制下的静态和射频波场下的离子响应。这笔拨款将继续对可能有助于磁层等离子体形成的机制进行实验室研究，在极地磁层中产生离子锥形分布的射频加热机制，结合射频和准静态场机制，带电粒子束的形成可能导致离子锥。总的来说，目的是研究电离层向磁层提供等离子体的过程。现在人们认为电离层是磁层的主要组成部分。

Considerable research effort in the past few years has clarified substantially the understanding of magnetospheric plasma physics. These advances to be made through combined efforts of three research approaches: in situ observations, theoretical/computational efforts, and laboratory simulations of relevant plasma physics. The work at the University of California at Irvine centers on laboratory simulations; the Irvine effort centers on their ability to study plasmas and their ion distribution functions with excellent temporal and spatial resolution, thereby allowing careful study of ion responses to static and radio frequency wave fields which are under the experimenter's control. This grant will continue a laboratory study of mechanisms which could contribute to the formation of the magnetospheric plasma, radio frequency heating mechanisms which could create ion conic distributions in the polar magnetosphere, combined radio frequency and quasi-static field mechanisms, and charged particle beam formation which could lead to ion conics. Overall, the aim is to study processes by which the ionosphere can supply plasma to the magnetosphere. It is now believed that the ionosphere is a major contributor to the magnetosphere.